The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

The whole DERB thing is now utterly out of control, so I apologise for making matters worse. See the recent threads in Mid/High Limit for background.

1) DERB comes from Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has a somewhat questionable style of play, yet is a suprisingly big winner at the high stakes limit partypoker games.

2) Andrew Prock, who started the recent "DERB" thread is part of "Project Mayhem", based in, you guessed it, Ljubljana. However, when this was pointed out to him in the DERB thread, he stopped responding.

3) Other Project Mayhem members include Abdul Jalib and Izmet Fekali.

4) The "Fekali family" are from Ljubljana, and Abdul Jalib apparantly moved there.

4) Angelina Fekali, one of the earliest registered members on 2+2, suddenly appears and makes only her 4th ever post in one of the DERB threads, in response to a cryptic David Sklansky "Joke". The tone of the post would suggest some connection between Angelina Fekali and David Sklansky.


There are numerous unanswered questions concerning the Ljubljana connection. Is DERB part of "Project Mayhem" and linked to the Fekali's and Abdul Jalib? Are the Fekali's a real family or just the invention of a fertile imagination? I think Abdul Jalib may just be an alias itself? Who is Tonda? Tonda Hall? What does Andy Prock and David Sklansky know that the rest of us don't?

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

I heard that DERB only plays hand that algabraically can form 4815162342

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

FWIW, this is getting pretty sick. Creepy-kind-of-sick.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I heard that DERB only plays hand that algabraically can form 4815162342

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, Yes, and that number is the exact dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Khufu!!!

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Ooooh I got the third reply to what is sure to be a 1,000 post thread.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Now that I have everyones attention, I can ask the question that has really been burning on people lips since this whole debacle started:

How the hell do you pronounce Ljubljana?

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Don't worry - the island will tell us what to do.


P.S. Is anything really funnier than a cryptic Sklansky joke?

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

I'm glad you started this thread. I've been thinking for the last week or so that this is all some puzzle that should be ... clearer.

Illumination ahoy.


Barron Vangor Toth
BarronVangorToth.com

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Now that I have everyones attention, I can ask the question that has really been burning on people lips since this whole debacle started:

How the hell do you pronounce Ljubljana?

[/ QUOTE ]

lyOO'blyänä

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

wow there is alot of information that i wasnt aware of that you mentioned in this thread. andy prock created pokerstove and has said in other threads that there is alot of mathematical information that he knows about but wont share with the public. hes indicated that he has some really sickening software out there that everyone would love to have but he wont share it.

i really doubt andy prock is from slovenia as andy prock is clearly an american name. slovenia probably just hired him or purchased software from him and he probably helps develop their research online.

it really just sounds like they are developing poker bots which is indicated from the old rpg post about slovenia developing bots that everyone thought was a joke.

i did a search on google for tonda and it appears to just be a name. it is also a city in tuscany. i tried to do a slovenian translation of tonda to english and it it just came up with tonda.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

I hear if you record the text of 'Theory of Poker' and play it backwards, it says "This is all for you, sweet Satan." Over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
wow there is alot of information that i wasnt aware of that you mentioned in this thread. andy prock created pokerstove and has said in other threads that there is alot of mathematical information that he knows about but wont share with the public. hes indicated that he has some really sickening software out there that everyone would love to have but he wont share it.

i really doubt andy prock is from slovenia as andy prock is clearly an american name. slovenia probably just hired him or purchased software from him and he probably helps develop their research online.

it really just sounds like they are developing poker bots which is indicated from the old rpg post about slovenia developing bots that everyone thought was a joke.

i did a search on google for tonda and it appears to just be a name. it is also a city in tuscany. i tried to do a slovenian translation of tonda to english and it it just came up with tonda.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice Work TStone.

I agree A. P. is probably american. It's only that he is listed as being part of "Project Mayhem", which is based in Ljubljana. Of course, the project mayhem website appears to be purposefully shadowy and obtuse.

The old RGP post about Slovenian pokerbots was made on April 1st.

I searched Google for the terms Tonda & poker. There is a poker player called Tonda Hall mentioned in passing in a tournament log. However, s/he does not appear in the hendon mob database.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

DISCLAIMER: Don't worry I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat (yet [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]). However, everyone does love a good conspiricy. I am also of the belief that there are people lurking in the background who know more than they are letting on. Most of this information is probably more of a "gossipy" nature, rather than "OMFG leet poker botz gonna pizown our asses". Either way, I can understand their reasons for wanting to retain privacy, and I apologise for prying. However, the whole issue has become rather public and the presence of cryptic posts and obtuse websites seems somewhat designed to provoke curiosity & fuel gossip.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Tonda is Abdul's Wife, apparantly.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Here is some interesting information from Angelina herself.

[ QUOTE ]

Yes, I am Izmet
Posted by: Angelina (angelina@fekali.com)


I guess it is time to set some records straight and maybe I have waited too long to do it, so here it is:

My name is Angelina Fekali and I have no brother. "Izmet Fekali", the frequent poster here and on rgp, does not exist. I made him up. As some of you have caught on to this little ruse and over the months the truth was harder and harder to hide. As I said, it is time to give up and take a stand for myself. There's no need for me to wear men's clothes anymore, I sincerely hope so.

A lot of you will probably not understand, but where I come from, women are not treated with equal respect. Since respect was all too often denied to me simply because of my gender, I decided to make my life easier on poker forums and become a guy. I was eager to learn and I very much wanted to be taken seriously. I tried very hard to become "one of the boys", hiding my true feelings and intentions behind "Izmet's" macho sheep humor.

My fears were not unfounded, it turned out, as I started to play at Paradise under my real name, no way a girl from Slovenia could play good poker, it's a man's game, I am listening to these kind of remarks for a year now. Well guys, you better believe it. Women can and do play good poker. I am sure this fact will hit hard some of you, but you need to face it. Women can play too.

I met David Sklansky In Las Vegas in 1999 when my dear father took a vacation there (looking for a game of 5card potlimit stud). Unbeknownst to my father, I fell in love with David, many of you have no idea how charming this man can be on top of his intelligence. He was relentless in his wooing, I must laugh every time when I think of our first few hours alone when he pulled out a deck of cards and said, "let's play for fun, do you know poker?". I didn't and he offered to teach. Little did I know that I saved about $400 (his standard tutoring hourly rate) that hour, little did I know that he tried very, very hard to lose to me in that headsup game, little did I know that I am one of the few that can brag "I beat Sklansky in poker". Little did I know that life will never be the same.

I was hooked. Both on Sklansky and hold'em. He sensed my enthusiasm and offered to teach me more. To cut a long story short, we had great time and I had to go back home. Six months later, after lots of research, sims and thinking about the game, I was eager to play him again, to prove I was a student, a friend and, most importantly, to prove I was smart enough for him. I was in Vegas again, desperately in love, only to find another woman sitting besides David at the poker table. It broke my heart and it broke our relationship.

That is when I met Abdul Jalib M'hall. I am sorry not to go into detail here, let me just say that I met his wife too, she is a very nice person and I am sorry to bring some pain into her life. Out of respect for her I shall not do our dirty laundry in public.

Needless to say, I befriended Abdul because of his refusal to accept Sklansky as an authority on hold'em, he was a renegade and a free mind, he appealed to me a lot. He provided me with tools to fight Sklansky on his own turf, poker, without being an underdog to Sklansky's strategies. I can't thank Abdul enough for this, if you are reading this, Jabba dear, you will always have a special place in my heart reserved. Thank you.

I don't travel much to Vegas anymore. My life is settled now, men can't hurt me anymore, any frustrations I may have left I take out on unsuspecting $20-40 Paradise players. If you are there and see me 4-bet you on the turn with a shaky hand, it is probably because I imagine I'm playing against David.

I just can't pull him out of my mind, it seems.

I love you all.

Angelina Fekali


[/ QUOTE ]

This comes from the thread here:
http://www.twoplustwo.com/digests/ge...apr01_msg.html

Unfortunately...
[ QUOTE ]
Posted on: Sunday, 1 April 2001, at 8:48 a.m.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

To be honest, it all feels like one big april fools joke....

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

This is getting ... weird.

There are a number of scenarios as to how this all is incorporated into reality, none of them not creepy.

Barron Vangor Toth
BarronVangorToth.com

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

http://www.slopoker-forum.com/ seems to have a lot of people from there, but I can't understand anything it says...

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

this is like the 2+2 version of the rgp "pattern mapper" thread!

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
To be honest, it all feels like one big april fools joke....

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. Based on tone, I would be EXTREMELY surprised if that post were anything other than an April Fool's joke.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
This is getting ... weird.

There are a number of scenarios as to how this all is incorporated into reality, none of them not creepy.

Barron Vangor Toth
BarronVangorToth.com

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad I'm not alone in this. The larger spectrum (one that is plausible, well, several that are plausible) is at least disturbing.

This is beginning to play out like a mix between Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" and Anton Checkhov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog." But that's probably due in large part to Angelene's archived post.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Do you guys actually believe ANY Of this?
Seriously.

Josif, son of Mekan Fekali, 5-card stud prodigy at the age of four, dropped out of the Municipal High School of Tirana (Albania) at the age of five, persuing his lifelong dream, a career of a sheep herder. Herded sheep as a freelancer until he immigrated from Albania to Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1960, where he retired twenty years later, serving in position of Special Slovene Herding Advisor.

It's like a bad Austin Powers sequel.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Do you guys actually believe ANY Of this?
Seriously.


[/ QUOTE ]

Hence in my original post, I asked "Are the Fekali's a real family or just the invention of a fertile imagination?". I agree that the Fekali website sounds like a bad movie, but this is only one question out of several, and it does not by association make everything unbelievable.

However, I wouldn't be entirely suprised that Angelina's April Fools was part of a larger prank, and that Angelina = Izmet = Abdul.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Vince Lepore is also in on this.

Ljubljana Cheaters Caught. Anyone we know?
Posted by: Bob
Posted on: Friday, 19 January 2001, at 4:44 p.m.

SLOVENIA Casino Cheat Goes Free Melanie Banks, Gambling Newsletter Slovenian police caught an Italian citizen January 16 using a miniature video camera and a mobile phone to cheat in a game of poker in a casino in Ljubljana, which borders with Italy.

"We had a couple of attempts to cheat in casinos before, but none of them was as technologically advanced as this one," said Ivan Maras, police spokesman. The man put a bag with a mini video camera behind the dealer so that images of the cards could be transmitted to a hotel room nearby where an accomplice advised the gambler by mobile phone via a tiny receiver mounted in his ear. The cheat was detained for six hours but the police had to free him when they couldn't prove how much money had been won by the scam. The accomplice also went free.




Re: Ljubljana Cheaters Caught. Anyone we know?
Posted by: Izmet Fekali (izmet@fekali.com)
Posted on: Friday, 19 January 2001, at 6:20 p.m.

Do you have anybody in mind?

---
Izmet Fekali
Burek Experts Ltd.
Catering the World Since 1389!
Albania, Slovenia, Europe
http://www.fekali.com




Re: Ljubljana Cheaters Caught. Anyone we know?
Posted by: Vince Lepore (leporeva@hotmail.com)
Posted on: Tuesday, 23 January 2001, at 11:15 p.m.

Right!

Vince

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

A friend of mine on another forum was telling me about DERB a few days ago, so i figured i'd check it out. Instead somehow i managed to stumble upon the poker illumaniti. This is quite suspenseful, and completely insane, and yet i am quite intrigued and want to hear more. In fact at this point i hardly even care about the poker relevance. I am hooked... like sands in an hourglass

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

It's fairly apparent that Angelina is the very first gimmick account on 2+2, opened by none other than DS himself. NH Mr. DS.

jvs

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Tonda is Abdul's Wife, apparantly.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so much fun to watch that I hate to contribute, but Tonda is beyond doubt Abdul's wife. Old school RGPers will remember her at one of the BARGE events.

For instance:

This thread or that thread.

Please continue with the entertainment.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Yep, I'm gonna spill out some more old gossip, from Tonda's mouth:

[ QUOTE ]
He moved to Slovenia in the summer of 03. He had visited there several months before (when we were still married) and I gather, deduced he liked his rich buddy’s (Ismet Fekali) lifestyle better than he liked married life. We kept in touch up until about 3-4 months ago when he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. I’ve been worried that something has happened to him, but there is little I can do about it.

The last time I talked to him, he was still playing poker for a living both online and playing in some European tournaments. At present, your guess is as good as mine.

[/ QUOTE ]

This adds a new intepretation to Angelina's apology in the April Fools letter. If she and Izmet are in fact the same person, then he (and his alter-ego sister) are in some ways responsible for the marriage break up of Abdul and Tonda.

Similarly, the rest of the April fool letter could be re-intepreted along these grounds. The "seduction" by Sklansky poker theory and then later by Abdul Jalib's other way (the way of the DERB?).

I'm reading far too much into this, but it's fun!

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
To be honest, it all feels like one big april fools joke....

[/ QUOTE ]


I have absolutely no idea WTF is going on here. Out of curiosity I opened the thread and am totally confused/amused.

I did happen to notice that Angelina's initials, A.F., could be a reference to April Fool. Farfetched observation? Stoopid observation? Example of how the mind of DS might work?

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
To be honest, it all feels like one big april fools joke....

[/ QUOTE ]


I have absolutely no idea WTF is going on here. Out of curiosity I opened the thread and am totally confused/amused.

I did happen to notice that Angelina's initials, A.F., could be a reference to April Fool. Farfetched observation? Stoopid observation? Example of how the mind of DS might work?

[/ QUOTE ]

Except there really is a regular player on Paradise poker who is named Angelina.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

I think it is common knowledge that Abdul Jalib is an alias. I think his real name is Michael Hall.

My assumption has always been that Angelina is an alias for Izmet Fekali.

I do think it is interesting that Louie Landale is part of Project Mayhem. He used to post here a lot, but I haven't seen him here in a while.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
It's fairly apparent that Angelina is the very first gimmick account on 2+2, opened by none other than DS himself. NH Mr. DS.

jvs

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know. http://www.fekali.com:3455/26/21

I could see David hring a model, but the whole multiple monitor set-up and Paradise Poker is definately NOT David's work.

It is becoming clear how the Ljubljana connection fits togethor. David Sklansky's joke now makes sense.

Certainly it would appear that "Addul Jalib" moved to Ljubljana to be with his friend Izmet, and that this preceeded his divorce to Tonga. Angelina's existence and status in this is still obscure.

However, the main issue is still untouched. How does DERB fit in with all this? The main hypothesis is that he is, in fact, Abdul Jalib or a creation of Abdul, with his, in the words of Angelina:

"refusal to accept Sklansky as an authority on hold'em ... renegade and a free mind".

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Except there really is a regular player on Paradise poker who is named Angelina.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is she just playing NL? Care to eloborate on strategy?

***
I need to calm down about this, I just knocked myself into Pooh-Bah status, what with all the frenzied excitement [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Two things:

-A person or group of people has put a lot of energy into making stuff about Izmet Fekali and related individuals. It's pretty funny and people have fallen for all kinds of stuff.
-There is still a person, using a seemingly suicidal strategy, destroying the high-limit games.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

Whatever is actually going on, this is one of the cooler things I've ever experienced, and I can't for the life of me figure out why.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

This has all the makings of a DaVinci code style bestseller.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

My theory is that the whole incident of Abdul getting kicked off the 2+2 boards was staged, and it was just the beginning of a nefarious plot to take over both the poker world and an eastern European country. As S & M realized Abdul was getting closer and closer to the "truth," they realized they only had two options: have some Vegas heavies deal with him, or take him into the fold.

David, Mason, and Abdul have been working together for years to develop a dominant poker strategy superior to the strategy described in their books. Verily, a strategy that in fact preys on both the robotic players who utiize the theory outlined in 2+2's catalog of poker knowledge and the fish who swim in these shark filled waters.

Derb is the result of those efforts. Fear the Derb.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
4) Angelina Fekali, one of the earliest registered members on 2+2, suddenly appears and makes only her 4th ever post in one of the DERB threads, in response to a cryptic David Sklansky "Joke". The tone of the post would suggest some connection between Angelina Fekali and David Sklansky.

[/ QUOTE ]

angelina posted quite often before the split, fwiw.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
This has all the makings of a DaVinci code style bestseller.

[/ QUOTE ]


Or a TV series.

Re: The Ljubljana Conspiracy.
 

[ QUOTE ]
The whole DERB thing is now utterly out of control, so I apologise for making matters worse. See the recent threads in Mid/High Limit for background.

1) DERB comes from Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has a somewhat questionable style of play, yet is a suprisingly big winner at the high stakes limit partypoker games.

2) Andrew Prock, who started the recent "DERB" thread is part of "Project Mayhem", based in, you guessed it, Ljubljana. However, when this was pointed out to him in the DERB thread, he stopped responding.

3) Other Project Mayhem members include Abdul Jalib and Izmet Fekali.

4) The "Fekali family" are from Ljubljana, and Abdul Jalib apparantly moved there.

4) Angelina Fekali, one of the earliest registered members on 2+2, suddenly appears and makes only her 4th ever post in one of the DERB threads, in response to a cryptic David Sklansky "Joke". The tone of the post would suggest some connection between Angelina Fekali and David Sklansky.


There are numerous unanswered questions concerning the Ljubljana connection. Is DERB part of "Project Mayhem" and linked to the Fekali's and Abdul Jalib? Are the Fekali's a real family or just the invention of a fertile imagination? I think Abdul Jalib may just be an alias itself? Who is Tonda? Tonda Hall? What does Andy Prock and David Sklansky know that the rest of us don't?

[/ QUOTE ]


I can't believe you left out the whole communism angle of the conspiracy.